Gearing



E. C. VILL!ERS..

BEARING. APPLICATION FILED OCT- 30, 1919.

1368 586.. Patented Feb. 15,1921

outrun stares rarest OFFICE.

:snwann onoIL nurses, or escort, ENGLAND.

To all whom it may concern Be it known thatl, EDWARD CECIL VIL- Lnnis, a subject of the l ling of Great Britain and lrelaml residingat lslendersyde, Ascot, Berkshire, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in Gearing, of which togetherisobtained by magnetic attraction I without relying upon either external pres sure or toothed eiiigagement of the geare'd parts. Noise and friction and wear oi' surface are thus reducedor eliminated.

ivly invention can be applied to many objects requiring the mutual engagement of a wheel and the surface of any other object.

Such wheel or its periphery may be either smooth, roughened, or milled. For this purpose, the contacting surfaces are made of magnetizable material. A thin layer of non-magnetic material may however, be interposed without greatly impairing their magnetic adhesion.

' In order to gain the desired results, the wheel is magnetized by an electrically energized coil in its vicinity. The wheel may be either solid or laminated.

According to one arrangement, the wheel, axle, shaft or spindle is made to serve as the core of an electromagnet. The magnetism produced in it will then cause it to adhere to any surface of iron or steel upon or against which it may roll or be rolled.

According to my invention as applied to an automatic course recorder, the magnetic wheel is inounted fast on a magnetizable spindle which is surrounded by the windings of a solenoid. Iron or steel plates at each end of the spindle serve not only as bearings for the same, but also as the pole pieces of the magnet. Ball or roller bearings should be provided which will eliminote any tendency of the spindle to adhere magnetically to the bearings, by reason of the rotation of the balls or rollers, notwithstanding that the latter may themselves become magnetized.

The bottom edges of the plates should be straight and made to come close to-butnot quite touching-the iron or steel surface on which the wheel runs, the plates being connected to the machine or instrument in any way.

The invention will be more fully described Specification of Letters Patent.

creamer.

herein with reference to the accompanying drawing which representsa Wheel according to my invention magnetically attracted to an iron plate.

It must be understood that the'drawing shows an example of only oneform which my invention may take and it is not to be considered as limitingmy claims.

The device shown isa wheel C on a shaft B of an automatic course recorder magnetized as explained'below, and adapted town on an iron plate O 'inany direction; An energizing coil A is shown around the shaft B and fixed to plates P whichare attached Patented Feb. 15, 1921. Application filed Gctober 0, 1919. Serial No. 334,608; i

to the machine or instrument. A similar ellect will be produced it alternatively the coil a. be mounted to revolve with the wheel t, but not so conveniently as it would be.

necessary to introduce brushes and ring con tacts. V

W hen held stationary in relation to the rotatable wheel C, as in the drawing, the contacts F F may be of the fixed or non-sliding kind.

The shaft B is journaled in bearings H H provided with ball races to prevent anti-rotary adhesion due to magnetization of the bearings. The latter arecarried by a frame part Q belonging to the machine or instrument. When the coil A is energized, the wheel 0 and shaft B both become a magnet, the wheel C being one of the poles, and the plates P respectively two otherpoles. In order to increase the magnetic efl'ects, the end pole pieces P are shaped flat at their bottom and brought close to the plate 0 so to leave a small air gap. Consequently the wheel C adheres to the plate 0. The magnetic circuit passes from the wheel 0, through the plate 0, and across the air gaps between the plates .P and the plate 0,

through the plates P and the ball bearings H to the shaft B, and back to the wheel C, which completes the circuit. The traveling machines or instruments fitted with a wheel magnetized according to my invention t0- tion produced in the manner above deQ scribed.

lOi)

, It is unnecessary to supply adetailed description of the invention as appliedto its various uses, for instance, as a traveler carrying cutting, riveting or other working tools or devices as the general arrangementwill be the same as already described herein. It will be noticed thatthe wheel C makes practically point contact, and is therefore adapted to be steered universally in any direction u'ponthe plate 0.

1. In" a device adapted to run upon a surface, a shaft carrying a friction wheel,

a flange carried'by the'saine shaft separated from the wheel by'a space, an electro-magnetic coil within said space coaxial with said shaft, the'wh'eel being virtually in frictional contact with a metal surface and the fian e-bein separated frorn'the latter an a g 7 element provided with said surface, the Wheel, the fi'angeand the surface all being of inagnetizable material. i

2. In a device adapted to run upon a sur face, a shaft carrying a friction wheel of magnetizable material, a flange, also of magnetizable material, carried by the same shaft separated from the wheel by a space, an electro-rnagnetic coil within said space coaxial with said shaft, an element having a surface inagnetizable' material, an element having surface of magnetizable material upon which sald wheel can run, magnetizable' nonrotatable fiangesupon the same shaft, such langes-constituting pole pieces and being straight along those edges which are nearest Y to said surface.from"which they are separated by a small gap, together with electromagnetic coils situated coaxially on either side of said friction wheel.

EDWARD CECIL VILLEERS. 

